Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry Go To Polls Today

The citizens in the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry are turning up in large numbers to cast their votes for the state legislative assembly elections. While over 12 per cent of the total voters cast their ballots in the first two hours in Kerala, Tamil Nadu showed a brisk 18.3 per cent turnout, followed by Puducherry, where 10 per cent of the voters had already cast their votes.

This election will decide the fate of Chief Ministers Jayalalithaa and Oommen Chandy and their arch rivals and nonagenarians M Karunanidhi and VS Achutanandan in their respective states which will witness multi-cornered contests.

Counting of votes in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry, where rival candidates fought a gruelling two-month campaign in peak summer, along with West Bengal and Assam, will be taken up on 19 May to decide the outcome of what is being described as 'mini' general elections.

The BJP is seeking to make inroads in Tamil Nadu and Kerala where the power has oscillated between the AIADMK and the DMK and the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the CPI-M led Left Democratic Front (LDF) respectively for decades.

Besides AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa and 91-year-old wheelchair-bound Karunanidhi, the poll arena in Tamil Nadu also has two other chief ministerial candidates-actor-turned politician Vijayakant of DMDK-PWF-TMC combine and PMK's Anbumani Ramadoss.

A total of 3,740 aspirants are in the fray for the 233 assembly seats.

Of the total 234 constituencies, polling will be held in 233 seats as the Election Commission had deferred the process in Aravakurichi segment in Karur district to 23 May due to "unlawful" activities of candidates and political parties in "bribing" voters. Counting of votes in Aravakurichi will be taken up on 25 May.

Election authorities have seized more than ₹100 crore unaccounted cash in the state, the largest among the five states involved in the Assembly polls.

More than a lakh police and paramilitary personnel would man over 65,000 polling booths across the state, which is witnessing a multi-cornered contest also featuring BJP, seeking to make a mark along with a few minor allies.

Jayalalithaa, seeking a second successive term in office, and Karunanidhi, eyeing to lead DMK to power after back-to-back drubbings in the 2011 assembly and 2014 Lok Sabha elections, are contesting from RK Nagar in Chennai and Thiruvarur respectively.

R K Nagar has the maximum number of candidates at 45, with DMK (Shimla Muthuchozhan) and VCK (Vasanthi Devi) also fielding women nominees to take on Jayalalithaa. BJP's M N Raja is also in the fray.

BJP's candidates include its National Secretary H Raja and state President Tamilisai Sounderrajan.

Positioning itself as a viable third front, the combine of DMDK, People's Welfare Front comprising Vaiko's MDMK, CPI-M, CPI and VCK and Tamil Maanila Congress led by G K Vasan has also attacked both DMK and AIADMK, which have ruled the state alternately in recent decades, and pushed for a change.

Tamil Nadu is known to generally elect one clear winner from the two Dravidian giants, DMK and AIADMK, since 1967.

Everyone should vote, that is a duty: Rajinikanth after casting his vote in Chennai's Stella Maris College. pic.twitter.com/NwABfJvBJj

BJP has thrown its hat in the poll arena in the state known for its bipolar polity after stitching up an alliance with the newly floated Bharat Dharma Jana Sena, a party floated by the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam, an organisation of the backward Ezhava Hindu community. BJP is yet to open an account either to the Assembly or Parliament from Kerala.

The two month-long hectic campaign in soaring summer heat saw national leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who made three trips to the state to address five meetings, wooing the voters.

Modi's controversial Kerala-Somalia comparison saw the Malayalee sentiment getting hurt, with social media going viral with the hash tag #Po mone Modi# (go off Modi) and the two rival fronts attacking him for the remark.

However, BJP defended the Prime Minister, saying people were "twisting facts" on his remarks and he had only highlighted the plight of the tribal community in the state and his desire to improve their living conditions.